This invention relates to magnetic soap holders, specifically to such holders that are magnetic memorable of suspending soap over a sink basin.
Soap dishes are simple solutions for holding a bar of soap between uses. Soap lying in a dish or a holder on the edge of a sink with excess water from washing causes the soap to continue to dissolve reducing the useful life of the soap and leaving a coating on the dish or holder that requires periodic cleaning. Soap supporting features in soap dishes help, but they still get messy and require cleaning. Magnetic soap holders, like the present invention, were invented to solve this problem.
The concept of a magnetic soap holder has been around at least since at least 1947 when U. W. Edger invented a wall-mounted soap holder as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,597,925. A bar of soap is suspended from a magnet in the soap holder by a metallic anchor embedded into the bar of soap. Since that time many variations and improvements to the wall-mounted arrangement have been developed. Many design patents have been granted for wall-mounted magnetic soap holders as well.
Wall-mounting a magnetic soap holder with the base positioned vertically on the wall is far from optimal. For one thing, the location of the soap is not convenient to the faucet controls. Drips of excess soapy water falling from the soap and/or hands after washing may soil counter tops or other surfaces near the wall. Replacement of the soap after use requires dexterity so that the user's hand or the soap does not contact the wall. Generally, the soap holder weight must be kept to a minimum and lightweight products are often associated with low value products.
Another magnetic soap holder is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,169,743 to J. S. Page, Jr. This patent describes a small plastic magnetic soap holder that can be horizontally mounted or vertically mounted to a wall. The holder positions the soap at an angle on the edge of the sink basin or on a wall near the sink. The holder is short and mounts entirely below the center of gravity of the soap. Again, although some of the drips from excess soapy water may land in the sink basin, a portion of the soapy residue must run down the sides of the holder and onto surfaces near the near the holder soiling both the holder and surfaces near the holder. Also, replacement of the soap after use may be difficult with his design since the bar of soap blocks the view of the holder.
Totally freestanding magnetic soap holding pedestals have also been designed. An example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. D249,207 to Emmer. A totally freestanding design requires substantial mounting bases to overcome the weight of the suspended bar of soap and the forces exerted by people removing and replacing the soap on the pedestal. Many sinks and tubs do not have sufficient edge width or counter tops to accommodate these designs. The base of these designs also interferes with positioning the bar of soap over the sink basin.
U.S. Pat. No. D277,820 to Maayeh, shows a design for a magnetic soap holder that can be either vertically wall-mounted or horizontally mounted. A product that employed this design is sold by Uniplast, Incorporated of Grand Prairie, Tex. under the trademark MAGNA-HOLD™. The MAGNA-HOLD™ soap holder is fabricated from lightweight injection molded plastic and uses double-sided foam tape for attachment to a vertical wall or horizontal surface. When affixed to a horizontal surface, the Maayeh holder elevates the soap to an insufficient height to overcome the edge or lip on drop-in style sinks. The center of gravity of the Maayeh soap holder is located well past the front of the base, which caused the holder to be totally dependent on the adhesive for support. Initial trial placement of the soap holder is also impossible, due to the single usage adhesive, as the holder would topple over into the sink. Making the holder from higher quality materials would tend to increase the weight of the holder and exacerbating its dependence on the adhesive.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved magnetic soap holder made from higher quality materials that is attachable to the counter top or edge of a sink and positions a bar of soap well above the edge or lip of the sink and extends the soap well into the sink basin, such that any soapy water residue from the soap falls into the sink basin.